Going to California

I am. From July 2 to July 10. Mostly in the Bay Area. But I haven't been to California (LA) for years, at least not since the Reagan years, so suggestions about what to do there other than engage the Filipino community would be appreciated.

The West Coast has that image of being super-health conscious, so I doubt there would be as many barbecues there as there were here during Memorial Day. Except in New England, they don't call them barbecue, they're called "cook-outs." Unless it's a "Southern-style BBQ," which is entirely the same as a cookout except they think "Southerners" (which is everybody else in the country) layer their meat with four pounds of sauce. And then they barbecue everything in New England, from burgers, ribs, bacon? and kielbasa to swordfish, lobster and clams. And every dish has this complementary side of beans that's supposed to be the vegetarian option, if it didn't have a piece of pork floating in it. Yeah, so much beef.